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But if Not!

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I’ve been asking myself recently: what is faith?

As a missionary, I often feel like I should have a great answer to that. I can’t tell you how many people have commented something like, ‘I wish I had your kind of faith.’ There are some days where I feel like I have this faith thing figured out, where I find myself trusting the Lord. More often than not, I find myself begging for additional faith in my life.

As I’ve studied the character of God in Scripture, especially in the Law, I have come to realize the amazing juxtaposition of His character.

God is other than me in so many ways, but my favorite is in His attributes I can’t reconcile. Somehow God is love and wrath, justice and mercy, peacemaker and conqueror, forgiver and avenger.

I can usually be one thing at a time; I can have wrath, but I almost never do it with love...I can be just, but I become hard-hearted...I can be gentle, but I lose my ability to stand fast for righteousness. Yet somehow, God is all these things at once. Somehow in God’s nature these things aren’t in any sort of conflict; they are beautifully matched and intertwined. That is something I have been begging for God to bring into my life. I want that amazing balance in my own nature that so reflects God’s.

I think faith is something that is a similar conundrum. My favorite example is from Daniel chapter 3. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego have refused to worship the giant idol of the king and are facing the fiery furnace. They look to the king and answer his question of who could save them from the flames and say:

“O Nebuchandezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we service is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
 

I see three levels to their faith here. First, they tell the king that God is ABLE to save them. This is the faith I see most often in my life. I can declare with confidence that God is ABLE to handle whatever is in my life. I know that in my core and believe it fully. This is the kind of faith I think most Christians are able to claim with confidence -- God is ABLE.

It is the other statements that I pray to see grow in my life. They move on to say that God WILL deliver them. Often this is where our faith is tested. Sure, God is ABLE to do something, but I often find myself doubting if He WILL. God can deliver me from this constricting sin in my life, but do I believe He will? God can heal my terminally ill father, but do I believe He will? God can save the soul of the staunchest unbeliever, but do I think He will?

Do I pray like He will?

Often I don’t, not because I doubt God’s ability, but because I doubt myself. I doubt my ability to finish the statement these three made: BUT IF NOT. Somehow, these three could say God WILL deliver us in total confidence and add BUT IF NOT in just as much confidence. I don’t know how to pray a prayer like, “God, You will heal this sick person, but if not, You are just as faithful.” I don’t have the capacity to have complete confidence in the “will” and also the “but if not.” I often pray things like, ‘If You could, would you maybe do this, but if You don’t I guess that’s ok too.’

The prayer of total faith in the "will" and the "but if not" seems as impossible to my mind as the love and wrath of God’s nature. However, many of the authors of Scripture lived their lives in the amazing balance of those things. They had such trust in God that they could approach His throne with total trust that He would do as they asked, but if not then it was the best.

Even as Paul prepares to go to Spain and Rome, we never see him accuse God as those plans aren’t fulfilled. Even as Abraham takes Isaac to the altar to kill his beloved son, we see him believing that God would save him, but if not he could raise him from the dead. We see David singing praises even as his family and kingdom are torn away from him.

As I consider these things, I’m challenged by what I’d have done if faced with a fiery furnace. Perhaps I could have walked in knowing God would save me, but could I also have truthfully said, ‘but if not I will not worship false things’? As we see God’s amazing character and goodness, we can be confident in His ability and willingness, but we can also rest safely in Him even when the ‘but if not’s’ of life come along.

As I reflect more and more on the idea of what that kind of faith would look like in my own life, I find myself begging along with a father pleading for his daughter’s life, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” I’m thankful that God is faithful even when I am faithless. And I am thankful that He gives me opportunities and grace to grow my faith, even when I don’t know how. 

The Resting Faith: Be Encouraged by Others

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“There are three kinds of faith in Christ:
1. Struggling faith, like a man in deep water desperately swimming.
2. Clinging faith, like a man hanging to the side of a boat.
3. Resting faith, like a man safely within the boat (and able to reach out with a hand to help someone else get in).” 
-- Dwight L. Moody
 
 
Hello again, and welcome back! If you recall, we previously discovered how asking God for stronger faith and getting into the Word will both strengthen your faith. These are logical, practical steps to transitioning from that place of struggling faith that we're all so familiar with to a resting faith, where we're firmly grounded in the Lord and able to help encourage and strengthen others. Yes, you CAN get to that place in your relationship with God! 
 
In this last segment of the Resting Faith series, I want to share another way that you can strengthen your faith -- maybe a way that you wouldn't expect. What is it?
 

Be encouraged by others!!

 
That's right! Be encouraged by others! Stick with me. You'll see what I mean.
 
If you're like me, you tend to withdraw when you're struggling. Things aren't going the way you hoped they would; everywhere you turn, plans seem to fail. You've tried to get into the Word but feel like it's not making sense. You've been asking God for more faith but feel like He hasn't heard you... You feel alone, desperately swimming, and your faith is slipping. Questions begin to swirl in your mind:
 
"Is God real?"
                                           "What is this all for?"
                                                                     "How does that person seem on fire for God?"
               "What if all of this is a lie?"
 
Of course, the fact that you've pulled away from others, not wanting them to know what's going on or see you feeling like this, doesn't help!
 
It's in these moments of struggling faith that we NEED to surround ourselves with brothers and sisters in Christ who can encourage us, pray for us, and build us up. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that people are a replacement for God or that you should turn to people instead of Him. I'm simply pointing out that surrounding yourself with other believers is a crucial step to growing in your faith. When you're around other believers, you see God work in their lives, and God uses them to speak into your life. They can often answer your questions, and they can help you get out of the brain fog that you've become trapped in.
 
Hebrews 10:24-25 says:

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (NKJV)

 
Let's break this down...
 
 "Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works" -- The Greek word for "consider" is katanoéō, which means to perceive, consider attentively, or fix one's eyes or mind upon something. It's really a simple concept. When we turn our focus to others, love and good works naturally follow and our faith is strengthened. Don't believe me? I challenge you to serve God sacrificially. Do something outside of your comfort zone to serve someone else, and watch how your faith follows.
 
Verse 25 goes on to say, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another..." It's really pretty clear -- "not forsaking the assembly" quite literally means not to abandon the assembly of people together (and this verse isn't talking about people in general; it's speaking about the followers of Christ).
 
It turns out, people back in the early church struggled with many of the same things we do today, and withdrawing from the church was (and still is) an issue. I don't know how many times I've seen people who are struggling with their faith, really having a hard time figuring out who God is and what He wants from them, and through the confusion they decide to stop communicating with other believers. They stop going to church, stop calling or texting their believer friends, all the while using the excuse that they "just need time" to figure things out. 
 
Oh, my heart breaks for these brothers and sisters! The writer of Hebrews gave us this exhortation because he knew the positive impact that being around other believers would have on our faith!
 
When we're struggling, the last thing we should do is isolate ourselves.
 
We're family, brothers and sisters in Christ, and we need to help each other as we walk through this thing called life and as we grow in our faith. If we isolate ourselves, we'll soon begin to spiral into destruction. 
 
If you've found that you're in the "struggling faith" category, draw close to other believers. You'll soon find that they will encourage and strengthen you as you walk through this life. 
 
So there you have it -- three things you can do to strengthen your faith. Ask God for it, get in the Word, and be encouraged by others! No matter where you find yourself in the spectrum of faith, whether you're barely treading water or boldly standing in your faith and helping others out, these three principles should be in the front of your mind, and if they are, you'll find that your faith will be strengthened day by day!
 
God Bless! I'll see you next time!
-Ben

 

Posted by Ben Young with

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